The future is unpredictable.
Often we try to avoid this unpredictability by using our time to plan for the future. We say promising statements to ourselves to ensure we have a good idea of what the next phase of life will look like for us. And so, we say things like:
It will happen any day now.
It’s just around the corner.
We’re planning to move in the near future.
This is a sign of good things to come.
It is bound to happen eventually.
Time will tell.
These promising phrases give us some semblance of control– a comfort that we know what’s going to happen, so we are well prepared when it does. While we wait, we do everything we can to ensure that the correct doors will open so that we can walk through them exactly when we planned to. We are constantly working to ensure that we have a future that we can look forward to. We plan everything– we purchase flights, calendars and planners, request time off work, plan vacations, set alarms, share calendar invites, and do everything in our power to make our plans happen.
However, it is also an undeniable fact that no matter how much we plan, things will not always go the way that we hope. It happens over and over again – flights get delayed, meetings get canceled, calendars are crossed off, time off requests are rejected, alarms don’t go off, and plans fall through. Not only that, but sometimes we are unsure what direction our future is headed. We may attempt to plan, but ultimately throughout life, we will reach points to which we are unsure of which door to walk through. Should I take this job or that job? Should I move or stay where I am? Do I quit my job or continue on? Is this the right relationship? Is this where I should be?
When looking for direction, we often rely upon either our feelings or our thoughts to give us some confirmation of which way to go. In our hectic lives in which we depend upon planning to get us where we need to go, we find ourselves overwhelmed when we are unsure of what to do next. Although this may seem rather stressful– it is more useful than one would think. For it is when we are at a loss for direction that we begin to think about what we really want.
A loss of direction allows for us to take stock of the elements of our lives that we want more or less of. Do I want to make more money? Spend more time with my family? Travel or stay put? It is in these times of uncertainty, when our plans could go different ways that we are able to live into the uncertainty and all of the possibilities of what could be. The fact of the matter is very simple. If you don’t know what to do – just do something. Pick something and give it everything you have. If it works out then you know you did the right thing, and if it doesn’t you know to change directions. There is no way to know exactly what the future holds, plan for what it may bring, or predict what will happen, but we can be sure that no matter what direction we choose, we will end up exactly where we are supposed to be.